Marnie Busdeker couldn’t wait to get back to her students. She’d had ligament surgery on her ankle and had stayed off her feet for weeks while she healed. But on the morning of March 9, 2022, protected with a walking boot and equipped with a knee scooter to help her get around, the 40-year-old special education teacher from Selden happily headed back to work. By midday, however, Busdeker found herself in the school nurse’s office. “My leg was swollen from the knee down,” she recalls. “And I had a lot of pain in my calf.” She headed home to ice and elevate her leg, but in the morning the pain was worse. She went to a physical therapy appointment later that day where, after one look, her therapist told her to head straight to the hospital.
